Christian Peña wins Tijuana’s 2026 national poetry prize for Duelo con pájaros

Poet Christian Peña, born in Mexico City in 1985, won the 28th Premio Nacional de Poesía Tijuana with his collection Duelo con pájaros, Tijuana’s culture department announced Friday, Nov. 6, according to Zeta. The prize, convened through the city’s arts institute (IMAC), comes with 90,000 pesos, about US$5,000, and a diploma, and the winning book will be published in print.

The jury, poets Luis Armenta Malpica, Roxana Elvridge-Thomas and Balam Rodrigo, chose it from 221 entries and praised its richness of language, creativity, humor and irony, Zeta reported. According to the jury, the book deals with ornithophobia, a fear of birds, and with grief over the loss of a friend, and is also a tribute to friendship.

That is far more entries than last year. IMAC director Samantha Luna told KPBS in September that the 2025 call received 120 submissions, 101 of which met the rules, and that she expected about double this time. The 2025 prize, then worth 80,000 pesos, went to Carmen del Rosario Ávila Jáquez for País de nieve, Zeta reported at the time.

For readers

• Zeta said the award will be presented at a public event in Tijuana but gave no date.
• The city’s culture department is scheduled to talk about the prize during FeLiNo, according to La Jornada Baja California; CECUT lists the free literature festival for Nov. 10–14.